I had a moment this week when my mind focused on the fact that I only have four more years of David, H, K and me living under the same roof. And when I tell you that wrecked me, well, I’m not exaggerating. Luckily (?) my Enneagram 7 self (remember that?) doesn’t allow me to dwell in a negative state for long, so I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Despite the many times I’ve tried to pause time, I have yet to be successful. So I do what I’ve always done and dial in on my efforts to be present and savor the heck out of this beautiful life in front of me that is my literal dream to live each day.
I hold back saying stuff like that sometimes because I maybe it’s too much, too cringe. But it’s the truth. I am living the life I’ve always dreamed of and I feel so grateful for each ordinary day. So I will do all I can to stay in the present moment. And we had a good one this week.
Homeschooling as the girls have gotten older has shifted from library books, nature walks, and mom-dictated content to mom being more of a helper, assisting in assignments dictated by co-op classes. I still have mixed feelings on it if I’m being honest. The plus side is that I like the curriculum choices and the negative is that is separates us more.
This is probably developmentally appropriate and it is really rewarding to watch them thrive in these more autonomous environments. However, the parts we can do together, I hold closely to- one of those being morning time.
Morning time (or sometimes lunch time depending on our day’s schedule) is a time when the girls and I get together and take on a topic together. I rotate between art study (we’ve memorized all the titles and artists on these cards by this point), personal growth studies, devotionals, read aloud, handicrafts, and history. It often sets a positive tone for the day and is a time we all really enjoy.
This week we’ve been dialed in on our Medieval History. I know I’ve sung the praises of Beautiful Feet before, but their literary based curricula has been a hit for us in so many subjects. This week it was the catalyst for one of those golden homeschool moments when eyes light up, connections are made, and you get that gut satisfaction of yes, this is what learning is all about! Let me tell you about it.
Currently we are reading 1001 Arabian Nights as part of unit on the Islamic Golden Age. It’s quite entertaining as it’s about the clever woman, Shahrazad, telling tales nightly to her husband the king in order to enthrall him and keep him from chopping off her head each morning. There are more details to that, of course, but that’s the premise.
In her story telling she shares about Sinbad the sailor, thieves, caves, genies, and more. This week we were reading her tale of Ali Baba and his 40 Bandits. There is a brief sentence where she is describing a woman’s beauty and how a young man could fall so in love with only her eyebrow. It’s a quick, passing statement but immediately both girls’ eyes lit up and they proclaimed- “just like in As You Like It!“
Connection!
Yes. Last year they read the Shakespearian play, As You Like It, in which Jacques describes (satirically) the romantic “lover” stage of life as one spent “sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad / Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.” The kids thought description of a lovestruck teen was hilarious and delighted in hearing a similar reference in another text.
We continued.
In our edition of the book, the men with Ali Baba are described as bandits. When it was clear they were stealing, it dawned on K that they were thieves and she immediately burst into song- “Well, Ali Baba, he had them 40 thieves” (the girls had just been part of the theater production on Aladdin in the fall).
“Yes!” I said. And then I followed up with the song’s next line- “Scheherazade had a thousand tales.”
Boom. Connection as they realized the lyrics from the song were referring to the 1001 Arabian Nights book we were reading. They thought that was pretty cool.
The connection kept flowing into questions about religion and beliefs into serious and hard discussions regarding World Watch news stories about the war in Iran and finally ending on a lighter note as H connected part of the Ali Baba story to an episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates (her favorite show as a kid). Open sesame!
As the girls moved on to do their math and sat and savored that morning. That is the really good stuff I treasure about homeschool. Those moments don’t happen every day but building those kind of connections across timelines and cultures just feels like real, meaningful education.
This might seem like a really random thing to share, but with my desire to lean into the journaling and sharing aspect of blogging, I couldn’t help myself. These moments mean the world to me. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your weekend is full of moments worth savoring. Have a good one! <3
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